Byron Lichstein
Clinical Assistant Professor
E-mail: bclichstein@wisc.edu
Telephone: 265-2741
Office: Room 4318E, Law School
Education:
B.A. Psychology- University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
J.D. University of Wisconsin - Madison
Biography
Byron Lichstein works out of the law school's Frank J. Remington Center, a clinical program with three primary missions: to educate law students through real-world practice, to provide high quality representation to clients, and to serve the wider community through research and partnership with government.
Byron teaches in two of the Remington Center's prison-based clinics: the Criminal Appeals Project (CAP), and the Wisconsin Innocence Project ( IP). In CAP, law students work on the direct appeals of two Wisconsin prisoners recently convicted of felonies. CAP teaches students to identify potential appellate issues and present those issues persuasively to a court. In IP, students investigate and litigate claims of innocence for prison inmates in Wisconsin and, occasionally, in other states.
Byron's research interests focus on the criminal justice system's ability to convict the guilty, and not the innocent. He staffs the Wisconsin Criminal Justice Study Commission, a Commission made up of well-respected criminal justice professionals from throughout the system, as well as community leaders from outside the system. The Commission's goal is to implement reforms that address the primary causes of wrongful convictions, such as eyewitness misidentification, false confessions, tunnel vision, and problems with forensic science.
Byron has also assisted the Wisconsin Department of Justice in implementing its new model policies on eyewitness identification and electronic recording of interrogations. These model policies represent a comprehensive effort to address the causes of wrongful convictions in a manner that can be effectively implemented by law enforcement. The Remington Center's partnership with DOJ is a prime example of the "Wisconsin Idea," the principle that the University should serve all the citizens of Wisconsin, in part by working with others in government on projects of statewide importance.
Finally, Byron has also assisted colleagues John Pray and Keith Findley in drafting numerous amicus briefs to state and federal courts on issues such as admissibility standards for eyewitness evidence, electronic recording of interrogations, access to DNA testing, and other similar issues.
